What makes a good vinyl casement window?

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Bobert
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Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:11 pm

What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#1 Post by Bobert »

What features do you look for in a good casement window? Besides spacers and glass, what features are must haves?

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Windows on Washington
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#2 Post by Windows on Washington »

What to look for:
  • high design pressure
    good thermals
    low air infiltration
Options that you might not see in all of them, but are nice:
  • folding handle
    retractable screen (higher end wood casements)

Bobert
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#3 Post by Bobert »

Thanks.

The ones I am looking at are a DP50. U-value .26, SHGC .18. Those are probably good enough for central Texas. We are about 200 miles from the coast.

The have the folding handle and an interior BetterVue screen.

Are reinforcements needed like hung windows to prevent sagging?

The manufacturer mentions heavy-duty hardware from Roto, any comments on them?
Last edited by Bobert on Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Windows on Washington
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#4 Post by Windows on Washington »

Those sound like all pretty solid features. Casements are not usually as sensitive to the deflection issues that double hungs can suffer from. The sash extrusion is usually much more robust than a DH sash profile.

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HomeSealed
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#5 Post by HomeSealed »

+1. I'd only add that the higher end vinyl casements are seeing DP's in the 60-80 range. 50 is plenty in terms of its correspondence to a 171mph windspeed, but since casements inherently get higher DP ratings, its a step lower than say a double hung with a DP 50 IMO. As far as sagging, that can be an issue with casements, and the hardware as well as the extrusion design are more important on that. Unfortunately that aspect doesn't really have a rating to correspond to it, although I suppose DP might be the closest indirect indicator.... I also like to see redundant weatherstripping on casements, 3+ layers. That will ensure that your .01 AI rating stays constant even when the sash sags a little.

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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#6 Post by masterext »

Heavy duty hardware is always good. Another feature that can prevent sagging is a roller system integrated into a casement’s exterior.

Bobert
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#7 Post by Bobert »

I looked at the casement window yesterday in person. The casement looked solid. What is a roller system? This one had a single locking handle that would raise/lower a long series of latches up the side opposite the hinge - kind of like a zipper. The awning version had two locks. It had a double-seal, one around the panel and one on the frame. I went ahead and swiped the credit card.

Ordering three casements, an awning, a slider and two single hung for this batch.

The awning will be 24x36 and is going into a powder path - it is the room we use for sheltering during storms so we upgraded it to laminated glass. They also are ordering that one with wet sealed glazing. We were debating casement/awning for this one and like the fact an awning is better for rain. I like beans and this would help in a small bathroom.

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toddinmn
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#8 Post by toddinmn »

What brand were you looking at? I would Be cautious since even some of the cheap brands line of casement windows can put up pretty decent performance numbers.

Bobert
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Re: What makes a good vinyl casement window?

#9 Post by Bobert »

We ordered from a local manufacturer(Ringer) who uses a Veka profile. We also looked at Milgard and NT. This part of Texas doesn't have many many of the brands they do up north (Okna/Softlite/Sunrise). We liked the thinner frame profile on Ringer - 2.25 inches on the sliders and single hungs, and 3.1 inches on the casement over Simonton and others. We also liked the even-sightlines on the sliders and hung windows. They don't have their Air Infiltration posted but we have one of their awning windows - I was guessing their AI is low as on our 36x36 awning, we noticed no air leaking when we had high wind over 50mph this past weekend.

Here is a link to their technical drawings: http://ringerwindows.com/wp-content/upl ... liteCA.pdf.

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